Bacteria stretch and bend oil to feed their appetite

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https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.adj4430


Excerpt: It is imperative to understand the fate of crude oil that escapes into the ocean to minimize its environmental, economic, and societal harm. Large amounts of crude oil enter the sea, as occurred this past month on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil does not easily mix with water, which can restrict oil degradation through microbes, a key pathway to remove hydrocarbons from the environment. However, turbulent seas and response measures, such as dispersant addition, generate smaller oil droplets that are attractive to voracious microbial activity. ...Prasad et al report that bacteria attach to oil droplets, then grow as a film on the oil surface, sometimes reshaping spherical droplets into finger-like protrusions. This dynamic process increases the oil’s surface area and accelerates its biodegradation. The finding should improve predictions of spilled oil transport to ecologically sensitive sites....

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